Morning after: Balloon boy gets sick twice on TV

Six-year-old Falcon Heene sits cross-legged on the roof of his family's van outside his home in Fort Collins, Colo., after the little boy was found hiding in a box in a space above the garage on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009. Falcon Heene at first had been reported to be aboard a flying-saucer-shaped balloon fashioned by his father and then carried by high winds on to the plains of eastern Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The father of a 6-year-old boy who was thought to be in a helium
balloon that floated away said Friday accusations that the ordeal was a
publicity stunt are "extremely pathetic." The sheriff said he will be
asking more questions.

Richard Heene and his family made the
rounds on all three television networks on Friday, and the boy at the
center of the saga got sick twice when he and his father were asked
during separate interviews what he meant when he said that "we did this
for a show."

Falcon Heene vanished around the time his family's
homemade helium balloon floated away from their home on Thursday,
setting off a national uproar as authorities scoured the plains of
northern Colorado for the youngster. Turns out, he was hiding in the
rafters of the family's garage.

During a live interview with CNN
Thursday night, Falcon said he had heard his family calling his name
but didn't come out of the attic hiding place because his father "had
said that we did this for a show." The boys' parents -- Richard and
Mayumi Heene -- are storm chasers who appeared twice in the ABC reality
show "Wife Swap."

Sheriff Jim Alderden said Friday his
investigators believe there was no hoax, but investigators will seek a
new interview with the family after the CNN broadcast to clarify the
statement.

Alderden told KUSA-TV in Denver on Friday that he
didn't know what to make of Falcon's comments, but pointed out they
came after hours of dealing with media questions. Alderden said
investigators, trained to look at body language and verbal
communication for signs of deception, were at the Heene home during the
whole ordeal and believe they were telling the truth. Despite that, he
said investigators would re-interview the family because of the comment.

During
an ABC interview on Friday Falcon was asked why he said he was hiding
"for a show," at which point he said: "Mom, I feel like I'm going to
vomit." He then left the room with his mother and could be heard
gagging.

During a live interview on NBC's "Today" that aired
simultaneously, Falcon threw up into a container when his father was
answering the same question.

At the beginning of the ABC interview, Falcon was asked how he's doing. "I feel good so far," he answered.

Richard Heene lambasted speculation that the ordeal was a hoax.

"I
went through such a roller coaster of emotions yesterday, to have
people say that, I think, is extremely pathetic," he told ABC.

"I'm not selling anything. This is what we do all the time."

It
was five hours from the time the oldest of three sons reported that
Falcon, the youngest, had climbed into a saucer-shaped balloon that had
drifted off, setting off a search that included military helicopters
and a plan to either lower a person to the craft or place weights on
the balloon to bring it down. Officials rerouted planes around the
balloon's flight path and briefly shut down Denver International
Airport.

Heene said the family was tinkering with the balloon
Thursday and that he scolded Falcon for getting inside a compartment on
the craft. It was designed to hover about 50 to 100 feet from the
ground but it broke loose from its tether.

The family videotaped the episode. In a segment shown on national TV, the father kicked the ground when the balloon took off.

One
of Falcon's two brothers said he had seen him inside the compartment
before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it
launched. But the boy had gone to the garage rafters at some point and
was never in the balloon during its two-hour, 50-mile journey through
two counties.

"I was in the attic and he scared me because he
yelled at me," Falcon said, referring to his father. "That's why I went
in the attic."

The Heenes aren't the types to shy from attention,
with boys featured in a rap music video on YouTube and the whole family
appearing on the ABC show "Wife Swap."

The show promoted the
Heene family as storm chasers who also "devote their time to scientific
experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a
research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm."

During a live interview with CNN, Falcon said he had heard his family calling his name.

"You did?" his mother asked.

"Why didn't you come out?" Richard Heene said.

Falcon answered, "You had said that we did this for a show."

Heene
told NBC his son was confused by the question, being only 6 years old,
and had shown television reporters his hiding spot, confusing that with
a show.